Tank Balance Changes in Game Update 5.9

Let’s talk about the changes coming to Tanks in Game Update 5.9. There are two things that informed the changes you will find below. First, “skank tanks” are greatly overperforming in PvP. This is a player who is using a Tank Discipline but equipping DPS gear. Second, when comparing all tanks (regardless of gear) against the DPS targets we outlined last year, tanks are doing more damage than intended.

The summary of what we are changing in 5.9 is that tanks across the board will be doing less damage. To ensure that this doesn’t have a negative impact on their ability to tank/hold threat, we are greatly increasing their overall threat generation. This will mean that although they will commit less damage to an encounter, holding threat will not be any more difficult than it is today.

We are going to continue to monitor things beyond 5.9 and see if additional changes are needed.

-eric

Below is the detailed breakdown of changes.

Spoiler

AssassinDarkness

Dark Charge’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

Dark Charge’s internal damage has been reduced by 50%

The damage bonus given to Shock from Electrify has been reduced from 25% to 20%

The damage bonus given to Depredating Volts from Harnessed Darkness per stack has been reduced from 25% to 15%

The Wither and Discharge damage bonus given from Mounting Darkness has been reduced from 30% to 20%

PowertechShield Tech

Ion Gas Cylinder’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

Fixed a bug in Power Armor that wasn’t calculating damage correctly

Power Armor now gives a 5% damage bonus to Ion Gas Cylinder (down from 10%)

Reduced the base damage of Heat Blast by 18.75%

The damage bonus given to Firestorm and Searing Wave by Flame Engine has been reduced from 100% to 40%

Reduced Ion Overload’s damage by 50%

Reduced Ion Gas Cylinder’s damage by 20%

JuggernautImmortal

Soresu Form’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

The damage bonus given by Pillar of Strength to Crushing Blow, Ravage, and Backhand has been reduced from 30% to 15%

ShadowKinetic Combat

Combat Technique’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

Combat Technique’s internal damage has been reduced by 50%

The damage bonus given to Project from Bombardment has been reduced from 25% to 20%

The damage bonus given to Cascading Debris from Harnessed Shadows per stack has been reduced from 25% to 15%

The Slow Time and Force Breach damage bonus given from Pulsating Force has been reduced from 30% to 20%

VanguardShield Specialist

Ion Cell’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

Fixed a bug in Power Armor that wasn’t calculating damage correctly

Power Armor now gives a 5% damage bonus to Ion Gas Cell (down from 10%)

Reduced the base damage of Energy Blast by 18.75%

The damage bonus given to Ion Storm and Ion Squall from Pulse Engine has been reduced from 100% to 40%

Reduced Ion Overload’s damage by 50%

Reduced Ion Cell’s damage by 20%

GuardianDefense

Soresu Form’s threat generation bonus has been increased from 100% to 150%

The damage bonus given by Beacon of Might to Guardian Slash, Blade Barrage, and Hilt Bash has been reduced from 30% to 15%

I guess this will help technically with asjusting the skank tank performance, how much I guess we'll see, but this also doesn't remotely curve the usage of skank tanks since all tanks are being nerfed across the board. Then again I don't think any tanks that took ranked seriously wore pure tank gear anyway so yea. I wonder what the PvE parse drop will be for each of the 3 classes, especially PTs.

Well, Im sure the thought that DPS is going to have to work that much harder in HM/NiM ops didn't even cross their minds. But this is typical of BioWare. They rarely, if ever, fix the actual problem and just apply band aid after band aid, never addressing the root cause (bad design in the first place).

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The statements and opinions expressed on these websites are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, nor are they endorsed by Bioware, LucasArts, and its licensors do not guarantee the accuracy of, and are in no way responsible for any content on these websites.